Black Bolt is a 2017-2018 Marvel comic written by Saladin Ahmed, with art by Christian Ward. It was part of the Resurr Xion relaunch and lasted 12 issues. It won the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2018.
Black Bolt was the ruler of The Inhumans, husband to Queen Medusa, the Midnight King. But now, thanks to a trick by his brother Maximus, Black Bolt has been locked away in a secret prison facility on the far edge of the galaxy, a place where only the most hardened galactic criminals are sent. A place ruled over with an iron fist by the Jailer, a being of immense power.
So, of course, Black Bolt befriends fellow prisoner Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, as well as an innocent young alien named Blinky, the Metal Master, and Raava the Un-Skrulled. Together, perhaps they can even escape from this hellish prison.
See The Inhumans for the character.
Tropes in Black Bolt:
- Affectionate Nickname: Crusher gives one to Black Bolt: "Wishbone."
- The Alcatraz: The space prison doesn't even have a name, but it's considered inescapable. It takes Black Bolt and his friends six issues to do it.
- Badass Boast: Raava is good at these:Raava: Raava's right hand holds Angry Daughter. Her left hand holds Hungry Son. Forged from Raava's fury. Tempered by Raava's will. With these, Raava will cut down any who stand in her way.
- Conveniently Cellmates: Black Bolt just happens to run into Crusher Creel, the only other prisoner there from Earth.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Raava isn't doing a Badass Boast, she is one of these:Raava: Yes. You are big hero. Raava will dry her dung and shape you a trophy...
- Extranormal Prison: The space prison is specifically designed for the worst of the worst and therefore saps all superpowers. Meaning that Black Bolt can't use his voice and Crusher can't use his absorption powers.
- Flashback B-Plot: The fourth issue is divided between Black Bolt and Crusher in a cell slowly being drained of oxygen and Crusher telling the story of his life, complete with flashbacks. It's very poignant.
- Friendly Enemy: Even though Crusher was a supervillain and fought them a bunch of times, both Captain America and Thor go to his funeral and say pretty nice things about it. It helps that Crusher isn't a killer, more of a bank robber, and pretty clearly avoided hurting children (and actually went out of his way to protect them).
- Happily Married: Crusher and Titania. It's very, very clear that she is the one good person in his life and vice versa.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Crusher sacrifices himself to blow up the Jailer and let the others escape. Of course, Crusher has "died" before and manages to come back to life in the eleventh issue. He doesn't even mind, although he did miss his own funeral and all the nice things Captain America and Thor said about him.
- Laser Blade: Raava has two called Angry Daughter and Hungry Son.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Raava had to watch her son and daughter die. So she named her two energy swords after them.
- Vampiric Draining: The Jailer turns out to be an Inhuman with this power:Metal Master: A psychic vampire who has been quietly feeding on the galaxy's mightiest criminals for centuries. That much power... can he possibly be stopped? Centuries.
